A Million Little Pieces Of My Mind

My friend, Michael, asked me to review a book on Red Light Therapy for him. It was pretty fascinating, and seemed to address specific issues I've been having, particularly with the condition of my skin, especially on my arms, as I mentioned a few weeks ago.

The book's full title is The Ultimate Guide to Red Light Therapy and what impressed me most was its generous use of actual citations of actual studies supporting its premise, which is that humans, now spending so much time indoors, are not getting enough exposure to red and near-infrared light. Among the many other benefits of such exposure is the improving of skin quality, especially the skin of seniors such as I.

My daughter, Jenny, spotted the book amongst my effects when I moved in with her. And she also noted that her tanning salon, Celebrity Tanning, had a special Red Light Therapy bed. So she got me a membership and I showed up.

The bed itself looks normal (for a tanning salon) but it's covered with thousands of LEDs that glow deep red, and a number that look dead but actually glow in the upper infrared parts of the spectrum. But then, when you turn it on…

Although the bed itself is capable of session times from 10 minutes to 20, Celebrity Tanning just offers a 10 minute session per day.

Anyway, after just three weeks of sessions, my skin has greatly improved. Before, almost the slightest touch of a dog's paw would have me gushing blood; now it just leaves a little bruise.

Even if I never experience all of the purported benefits of Red Light Therapy, this much of an improvement has already been more than worth the effort.